This past Spring I was privileged to be able to go the 2012 Together for the [Underestimated] Gospel conference. I heard various well-known speakers such as John Piper, Al Mohler, C.J. Mahanney, Matt Chandler, Mark Dever, etc. But my favorite sermon was “Divine Sovereignty: The Fuel of Death-Defying Missions” by David Platt, based out of Revelation 5, delivered on Wednesday, April 11th.

The following is video of that sermon that is an 1 hour, 1 minute, and 32 seconds definitely worth your time. (If you don’t have the time now–totally understandable–bookmark this page and set a time to watch this).

The following are my unedited notes that I took while listening to this message live at T4G.

• Main truth: Divine sovereignty is the fuel of death-defying missions.

• Introductory premises.
  • Local ministry is desperately needed.
  • But global missions is tragically neglected.
  • We love our local congregations to the end of reaching the world with the Gospel.
  • What drives this is rock solid confidence in the sovereignty of God.

• Four theological truths from this text.
  • Our sovereign God holds the destiny of the world in the palm of His hand (v.1). He controls absolutely everything. He has the right to save and the right to damn.
    • Side note – God does not need our help.
  • The state of man before God apart from Christ is utterly hopeless (v.2-5). See man’s need for Christ here and all over scripture. We see why John was weeping because he knows full well the state of man and the terrible damnation that awaits man. Over 2 billion people in this world only have enough knowledge of God (Rom 1) to damn them for eternity; think hard about this.
  • There’s hope! The greatest news in all the world is that the slaughtered lamb of God reigns as the Lord of all (v.6-8)! Weep no more. He has not simply endured death in our place but has also defeated it!
  • The atonement of Christ is graciously, globally, and gloriously particular (v.9-10). Gracious—He purposed to save you. Global—if we don’t do missions we’ve missed the point of the atonement, that Christ has purchased people of every tribe and tongues and nation. Particular atonement is driving nations. Gloriously—our motivation is not guilt that we have the Gospel and others don’t. We do missions for the glory of our amazing God.
• Four practical implications for those who know the sovereignty of God.
  • Let us lead our churches to pray confidently. God has sovereignly ordained the prayers of his people for the progress of the Gospel.
  • Let us lead our churches to give sacrificially.
  • Let us lead our churches to go intentionally to unreached peoples.
  • Let us lead our churches to die willingly. Many of these groups are dangerous and don’t want to be reached. But we know that when we go to these unreached people groups, nothing can happen outside of the sovereign will of God! Anything that happens is only God’s sovereign design that includes suffering.